Baby Likes Eating Noodles

Mommy and I have been trying to gradually introduce different foods into Arya’s diet. But baby prefers to eat whatever she sees us eating.

She saw us eating noodles and made all of the normal signals that baby is interested in food.

We were hesitant to give baby noodles since stringy foods can be a choking hazard. But as the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends soft, well-cooked pasta as a good choice for feeding young babies we were comfortable letting Arya try some small pieces.

We started with tiny, cut-up pieces of pasta that baby could swallow whole. She was comfortable with the small pieces and even tried to chew on them to copy the way we were eating noodles. Given that cutting pasta into tiny pieces is tedious, we quickly switched to letting her try biting larger pieces by herself.

It only took a few minutes for Arya to being grabbing whole noodles, ripping off little bits, and letting the remaining segment fall on the ground. After she was done eating each little bit, she would pickup the noodle from the ground and repeat the process.

We were still worried about baby choking while eating noodles so we supervised her closely. Having a baby choke is common enough for hospitals to put out special pamphlets [pdf] and for other parents to write about their experiences. Choking is a particular concern during the introduction to solid foods since babies are not yet familiar with chewing and eating.

Both mommy and I are familiar with the Heimlich maneuver for babies, but Arya showed quick mastery over eating noodles so we never felt she was in any danger of choking. Since baby likes eating noodles we can let her try more of the noodle dishes we make in the future.

Unfortunately we need to restrict the amount and type of sauce we use in our noodles.

Even though baby is good at eating noodles, she makes a huge mess all over the floor every time she eats. Cleaning up stray noodles is hard enough so we won’t be using liquid sauces for baby’s noodles any time soon.